supermarket we believe on this vacant ground to the west here's a closer shot of the block again
it's showing a vacant lot it's a large lot it's 18 wide by about it's 70 plus deep these are the
two churches. This is where there's an ongoing construction project right now. So here's current
photographs, which I took recently. This is the building on the one vacant lot. There's an
apartment here, and on the second and third floor, there's two more apartments. And this is commercial
space. The idea from the get-go, here's the entrance, by the way, to the upper apartments,
but the idea from the get-go was that this could not be a retail establishment.
But the idea from the get-go was that this could not be a retail establishment because Lancaster Avenue is where retail is.
The thought from the owner was this could be professional offices, maybe an architect, maybe an accountant, perhaps a dentist, something that would be a service.
I'll call it a professional office, even though all businesses are professions.
And when the plan was laid out, they have two doors here because this is a huge first floor. It's 18 by 64. And to rent to an office or a sole proprietor, that entire first floor, we thought it would be too expensive for anyone to really latch on to a space like that.
So there was a door installed here, and then a door installed here. In the back, it's about 700 square feet. And then if the sole proprietor took the first floor, he or she would also get benefit of the second floor, which is, again, 18 by 64, a pretty substantial place for a business.
This is looking in another direction, Haverford Avenue, looking north.
Again, this is the building, two vacant lots next door.
Excuse me, one vacant lot and then the two churches.
This is looking on 37th Street.
This is the vacant lot across the street.
Again, the house here.
And my client has had a for rent sign in the building since it's been constructed.
it. This is just close-ups of the churches that I already showed you on the block. This is a
photograph of the 22-unit apartment building that is being built across the street on 37th Street.
Just to give you some perspective, this is the basement of the building. Again, 18 by 64 deep.
There's light wells in four different locations. Ample ceiling height, maybe nine and a half feet.
Again, thinking if this was going to be commercial, you have to have some large area in the ceiling to accommodate a commercial use.
And this is the first floor.
Again, it's not fully built out because he hasn't been able to get a tenant.
He actually got the CO back in September of 2019.
And this space has been dark since then.
that's the reason we're coming before the board asking if we can convert this commercial space
to two units. The one unit would be a one-bedroom in the back, and the front unit would be three
bedrooms with a living room, dining room, and kitchen in the basement. Again, this is existing.
I don't know if that's too big for everyone to see. So these are the upper levels, which are
really not at issue today, which are apartments. Here's the first floor, just showing you the blank
space with the two doors on 37th street and then the blank space uh in the basement
the proposed plans again the upper floors are not of issue the proposed plans are to have the
front door service the bedroom excuse me yeah the bedroom then the front and the bedroom here
with the bath and then in the basement you have the living and the study area then the second door
would be for the other unit would be one bedroom with a full kitchen the rest of the documents are
pro forma documents that the board requires for any presentation the deed tax certification
here's our zoni map again showing you that that entire block and across the street is all cmx1
a commercial even though it's mainly residential on the block and a couple churches
Excuse me, when I say residential on the block, I just mean on this side of the block, not on this side.
There's vacant lots and one large art building on that side.
Let me just go through this.
I just wanted to show you.
These are notice letters.
Here's the zoning permit that my client obtained as of right back in 2018, just showing as a vacant commercial space and then multifamily above.
I do have my client, Mr. Chairman, on the line.
I'd like him to just address his efforts to try to make this space into a commercial space.
I think that would be something the board may want to hear.
if he could be unmuted his name he's on the telephone
uh do you have a name or the last four digits of the number uh the name is turlock hart h-a-r-t
And the last four digits.
and the last four digits that's fine he's on okay
That's fine. He's on.
Hello?
Mr. Hart, are you on the line?
Yes, I am.
All right.
Mr. Hart, you heard my presentation, correct?
Yes, I did.
And can you describe for the board the efforts that you've taken to try to get a commercial tenant?
I know you reached out to several realtors.
can you tell me their names and their company yes um i read out to avenge cat paroli and debbie
mcmullen of berkshire hathaway okay and you know i've met them several times while i was building
the building uh you know before i got my use and occupancy and you know they informed me
they thought that that area didn't lend itself to um it wasn't like a high commercial end like
like lancaster avenue was okay and then uh have you continuously tried to market this property
as a commercial whenever you would meet with the realtor or by having a sign in the window
yes i've continually met with them and then also that sign in the window was um a person from high
properties their property management company they tried to get me you know a tenant as well but i've
no success and you've had this the ceo for this building and permitted to occupy this building
since the fall of 2019 correct no sorry it was 2020 okay my mistake 2020 so yeah but i did i did
try in january of 2020 to try to market this particular property but basically since the fall
of 2020 this this first floor area has been dark and yes and vacant and unusable for any commercial
tenant yes mr hart have you heard my you've heard my testimony and if you had the opportunity to
testify would you find my testimony true and correct and would you adopt it yes i would
mr chairman i don't know if you have any questions or any members of the board
i apologize i stepped away for a couple of minutes uh it's mantua civic did not reach
an agreement or was that correct correct it was a seven seven tie
all right questions from the board no no
but i would like to testify in this case if so please raise your hand
no hands chair thank you planning commission good afternoon david fecto city planning commission
mr chairman members of the board the comprehensive plan recommends this property for commercial
mixed use the city issued approvals for a commercial mixed use building for this site
in 2018 this block is in the middle of the haverford avenue commercial node we were asked
to keep the commercial zoning here when we rezone the neighborhood in 2018 we recommend that the
board deny the requested variance. Okay again I was stepped away for a while I think you had a real
estate representative you've been trying to market it did I hear that correctly? Yes Mr. Chairman
Mr. Hart testified that even before he was under construction and while he was under construction
He had two realtors from Berkshire Hathaway that he talked to on several occasions and that they told him that the commercial corridor is really Lancaster Avenue and that this is really not a good spot for commercial and that there was no listing agreement that they would enter into.
I added that that last sentence is mine, that they would not enter into a listing agreement.
He didn't say that, but he was going to say it.
Yeah, and I apologize.
I had to step away for a minute.
I wanted to make sure I had the facts.
I think I answered the board. Any questions? No?
All right. MI 2021-0003373636 Haverford Avenue. My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Have a great day.
Likewise. Thank you.
Calendar number 0363-800-38 Market Street.
The attorney is Ron Patterson.
he's coming in as a panelist now
good afternoon mr patterson um please identify yourself and i'm going to make a brief statement
Sure. Good afternoon. My name is Ron Patterson, P-A-T-T-E-R-S-O-N, with Claire Harrison Law Firm, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia EPA 19103, on behalf of the owner of the property.
Thank you. You're swearing the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Thank you. I'm going to step aside and recuse myself because I've been involved with the Goldenberg Group for a number of years.
i did give a brief explanation this morning to the board about what this is all about but i'm sure
you'll do a better job of explaining it than i would i don't know about that okay mr patterson
do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do you did state
everything else your name and address correct i did and you were sworn in
yes okay have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance refusal
referral photos under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing and have you met
with the rco and do you have a letter all the above uh but we i haven't received the letter
from the rco despite reaching out a few times but we can relay what happened at the meeting
okay you may proceed thank you share my screen
okay so uh this application regards 800 market street it's uh it's a parking lot
uh that spans from 9th street to 8th street as these pictures show
So, as we all may know, those of us a little older, used to be Gimbel's department store site.
It's going through many, it's just going through the photographs of the surrounding area, gallery across the street.
I think we all know the parking lot.
It's going through many potential iterations of development over the years.
The Goldenberg Group, by way of other entities, does own it.
It's currently a parking lot, having 292 spaces.
I'll show you a little site plan here.
With accessory signs, it has been serving a beneficial purpose.
as we know, it's a highly traveled area. Since it was approved a few times, I would say 1999,
2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, has temporary use variances. You know, the description of the approval has
changed over the years based upon how the zoning code used to call it used to be a special use
permit for temporary parking which was a specific approval but we've asked for variances and been
granted temporary variances it does expire in 2021 uh at each time it's all and it still is
intended to be interim use we've had various projects as i've mentioned but on the books
but never none has materialized um have had many offers but not the right ones for this location
which is good for this area in context i mean no one wants to just
develop it just for a one-story building here. It does warrant better development.
As I mentioned, the ultimate owner is the Goldenberg Group. They are developers. They
are long-term operators. They don't develop just for the sake of it. They're not in the
parking business. They develop for long-term. For example, they own the IKEA shopping center on
Columbus Boulevard, the Snyder Plaza is right behind it on Snyder Avenue and Columbus Boulevard,
the Whitman Shopping Center at Rosa Grant and the Boulevard, 52nd and Parkside,
and a large residential development near Temple at 11th and Cecil B. Moore.
The parking lot has operated for many years with that incident.
It's a number of factors of why it hasn't been developed.
And Bob Friedman, if we can promote him, I'll ask him questions about the history and what's being proposed.
It's located in the CMX 5 Commercial Zoning District that allows accessory parking.
It's located in the CMX 5 Commercial Zoning District.
This is not accessory, this is non-accessory, and that's why we've had to return throughout the years.
Nothing has changed, I would point that out, since we were here the last few times.
So both the layout of the parking, well not both, but the layout of the parking assigns the additional landscaping that we have installed.
fencing all are the same and of course that means that the refusal letter that
we were issued is still the same refusal that we received before based upon sorry
based upon the design so still the same use same refusals brought up the current
standards we seek variance relief again to allow uh time to viably develop the property um we did
meet with the rco group on february 26th which was the fifth republican ward um and we'd asked
again that we believe that the current uses the past uses the surrounding uses physical condition
of the property the condition of uh you know economics and life in general create a special
hardship to viably develop the property. With that said, if we could promote Mr.
Friedman. I have some questions for him.
Is his hand raised right?
Pardon me?
Can we have him raise his hand?
He just raised it.
He just raised it.
Mr. Robert, you can unmute yourself.
Yes. Hi, Robert Friedman, General Counsel to the Goldenberg Group.
Okay, sir, excuse me.
Okay, your address, and then I'll swear you in.
Certainly. 630 Century Parkway, Bluebell, PA, 19422.
Thank you. Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
We all like to talk.
Yes, we do.
We want to get over with this quickly.
You may proceed.
Thank you.
Hi, Bob.
You mentioned your position with the Golden Group.
How long have you been there?
Over 20 years.
So you know you have a good, deep oral history of both the company and this project, I presume?
I do, yes.
And you've heard my presentation.
and would you agree that it's true and accurate and you would adopt it as your own?
It was true and accurate and I will adopt it as my own.
Thank you.
Is the Goldenberg Group in the business of parking?
No, it is not.
We're in the business of ground-up development.